[Adherence of neutrophils to human vascular cells cultured on microcarriers in a flow-through system: an alternative to animal experimentation] [Article in German]

Abstract

Adhesion of neutrophils (PMN) to endothelial cells represents an initial step within the recruitment sequence of inflammatory cells to tissue sites during acute inflammation. Unfortunately inflammatory host defense as a survival oriented event is often accompanied by tissue damage due to release of toxic products by PMN. Therefore, antiinflammatory drugs are often used therapeutically in both man and animals. We assessed in vitro the adherence of human PMN to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) cultured on microcarriers in a flow-through system. Incubation of HUVEC with the chemotactic tripeptide fMLP (10-7 and 10-8 M) enhanced basal adherence of PMN dose-dependently (P < 0.01). Both a steroidal (0.509 µM dexamethasone), and a nonsteroidal (0.392 µ M diclofenac) antiinflammatory drug reduced adherence significantly (P < 0.001). The assay presented here has the potential to be used in basic and applied pharmacological and toxicological research and should therefore help reducing the number of experimental animals used in these fields.